


Hello My Old Heart

by scarecrowstories



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Memory Loss, Reunions, Sibling Love, Twins, memory recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 01:21:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18840733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarecrowstories/pseuds/scarecrowstories
Summary: Taako remembers, and everything feels right for the first time in a very long time. A companion piece to my fic The Wanting Comes in Waves (but absolutely can stand alone).





	Hello My Old Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, that's right, I'm on a roll! JeffPipp suggested I do more of the comfort to go along with that last fic I posted, so, like, here you go! The title is from a song I just found called Hello My Old Heart by the Oh Hellos, and I figured sticking with a music-related title made sense for a companion piece. Also go listen to it, dang it!

The memories washed over him in wave after unstoppable wave, filling the spaces that hurt his head so terribly. It was a divine pain, blinding in intensity, the hole in his heart that ached for its missing piece finding purchase in the face he could finally recognize. Taako could feel the tears streaming down his cheeks as he stared at the portrait above Lucretia's desk, the image of his sister's smile all at once healing and hurting.

With every labored breath another memory settled into place, his mind racing with the effort. Her name was an endless litany on his tongue, his mouth forming the single syllable in near silence broken by raw sobs. Lup. Though it wasn't his fault, he felt a crushing guilt at having forgotten her, as if he had betrayed his very soul. His grip on the umbra staff tightened, the dawning memories revealing to him the gravity of what he'd come to think of as his most prized possession.

Taako was shaking. He knew that Lucretia was talking, helping them through the recovery of a century's worth of memories, but he could barely process her words. The resurgence of joy he felt at remembering the existence of Lup paled in comparison to the grief now rending his chest apart. In a flash she had returned to him, and all of his fear and loneliness for the last decade made sense. It was her reflection he sought, his mind always on the verge of remembering, maddening. It was her hand he longed to hold, her laugh he painfully missed, her presence he needed to breathe.

And just as quick as she returned, she was gone. Dead. Their last conversation played on repeat in his head, the weariness in his soul awakened as he recalled how tirelessly they searched for her. He could vividly recall now the gut-wrenching sensation of his memories fading. There had been a futile panic as she slipped through his fingers like drops of water, as if his heart's blood were spilling out, killing him. The static spread like a sickness over his past, erasing the most important person in his life, taking all of his love and laughter with it.

More than that, Taako had found her remains, unaware of the tragedy at his feet. He had taken her staff, oblivious to its place in his life. He stood before his sister's corpse and knew nothing, felt nothing, and left. Had the umbrella consumed her? Was her soul lost to some other plane of existence, condemned?

He could not stay his hand as the icy rage running through his veins aimed the staff at Lucretia, barely holding back a primal scream. Everything after that was happening so fast that it wasn't until they were already in the midst of their final stand that it occurred to him.

If the staff had consumed her, maybe she was still inside of it. Maybe it had been Lup burning her name in the wall, and not his subconscious mind trying to awaken. Desperate for anything that would bring her back to him, he snapped the staff over his knee. And as the blast of energy threw him back, he could feel her. The air hummed with her presence, the broken piece of him he'd forgotten existed mending in an instant as he heard her voice, her most precious voice, exclaim, "You're dating the grim reaper?!"

His heart was finally whole again.

xxxxxxxxxx

That night, they sat side by side, staring at the night sky. Her spectral form couldn't emote very clearly, nor did she have any physical presence he could cling to, but the existence of Lup by his side was the soothing balm he'd needed for over a decade.

"I missed you so much," she said. "I waited, and I had to believe that one day you'd find me, and--"

"And I did," he finished, failing to keep his tears from starting up again. "I'm so sorry, I left you all alone there for so long, and I…" Taako rubbed at his eyes harshly, taking deep, ragged breaths to steady himself. "I spent years not knowing you were ever in my life at all. There was always something missing, and I thought I was broken, and I was." 

Lup ran an incorporeal hand along his back in a gesture of comfort that could not connect; he appreciated it nonetheless. "Taako, I'm so proud of you," she said. "I've been with you this whole time with the Bureau, and you've been amazing. It's been difficult not being able to help as much as I wanted, but guess what? I'm here now, dorkface, and I'm here to stay!"

Sniffling, Taako managed a smile. "Yeah. Welcome back, you big nerd."

They sat there through the whole night, sometimes talking, other times allowing a comfortable silence to settle. Lup joked about things she had seen Taako, Magnus, and Merle do on their adventures, chastising him for being so foolish at times and praising his resourcefulness at others. She teased him about Kravitz, saying she knew the moment she saw his face that he was Taako's type.

"Look, don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you! But he's, like, literally Death Himself! I can't believe you!"

"Yes you can," Taako retorted, blowing a raspberry at Lup. "Just like how I said the day we met Barry that you were gonna crush on him so hard, and you were like, 'Oh, no, that loser? Never, look at those glasses!' And then fast forward and boom, you two lovebirds have sold your souls to lichdom."

She laughed, and Taako could swear he'd never heard a more beautiful sound.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The day Lup received a new body, Taako insisted on being there for it. True to her word, the first thing she did was kiss Barry as she had promised. Taako cleared his throat expectantly after he'd had enough of that, arms open to receive her embrace. Lup flung herself at her brother, joyous tears on both their faces. 

Every time Taako had looked in a mirror, it was her he sought. Every nightmare of endless running, he was looking for her. Every childhood memory was a tattered mess without her there, empty of all the things that mattered. To have her in his arms, not just hovering ominously as a ghost in front of him, was the homecoming he'd been waiting for.

They stood in each other's arms for a long time, not saying anything. It was enough to feel her chest rise and fall with each breath, the pressure of her arms around him holding him together. He placed a hand over her beating heart and smiled. The distant terror that used to overtake him at the sight of his reflection was quiet now, replaced with reassurance in every heartbeat that said I'm home, I'm home, I'm home.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope I wrote the comfort as good as the hurt! Please continue to request more fics out of me! I'm unemployed! I can do this all day! And in fact, I do!


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